


soldier, poet, king

by TheAndromedaRecord



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Royalty, M/M, Marriage of Convenience, assassin falls for target, royal consort jon, royal/servant relationship, servant martin, the entities as gods/sources of magic that aren't good or evil, the jon/jonah isn't really romantic but they are engaged
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-01
Updated: 2020-04-01
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:40:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23419891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheAndromedaRecord/pseuds/TheAndromedaRecord
Summary: Jonathan Sims is a foundling—he may have grown up in the second most powerful House in the kingdom, but he certainly isn't anyone special. Certainly no one worthy of being a king's betrothed.King Jonah has no reason to marry a nobody from House Cane. So Tim Stoker, leader of rebel group The Hidden, sends Martin Blackwood to investigate Jonathan Sims, and kill him if necessary.Martin plans for every eventuality except one: falling in love with his target
Relationships: Jonah Magnus/Jonathan Sims, Martin Blackwood/Jonathan Sims
Comments: 20
Kudos: 83





	soldier, poet, king

**Author's Note:**

> This is a shared AU with [quantumducky](https://archiveofourown.org/users/quantumducky), [Dathen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dathen), [bloominggroves](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bloominggroves), [Rustkid](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rustkid), and [smallhorizons/Osiris](https://archiveofourown.org/users/smallhorizons/pseuds/smallhorizons)

When the king got engaged, it didn’t take very long for everyone to know about it. Before the royal herald even began to draft an announcement, news of the engagement was spreading in ripples, shocking every ear it reached. The court openly turned up their nose at King Jonah’s would-be fiance—the man was of a lesser royal house, and not even born to it. A foundling, raised by an old head housekeeper because Duchess Cane couldn’t be bothered. Certainly the kind of person who could never hope to rise above his station by any means but marriage—but to a king? A soon-to-be emperor? It was ridiculous and improper. Not that any of the court said this to Magnus’s face. They kept their judgement to whispers and pointed glances whenever Duchess Cane entered the room. Of course, servants hear everything, and it didn’t take long for the whole capital to know of the king’s betrothed. The city folk had heard of House Cane, of course—the second most powerful family in the kingdom—and they were as baffled as the court. Surely, if the king were looking to ally with House Cane, he would have managed a marriage with Annabelle herself. Gods knew, she was ambitious enough to agree with it, especially after her father had forfeited their kingdom to Magnus for their alliance. The people in the adjacent cities were confused as well. Surely, with Magnus’s efforts to conquer the rest of the gods’s worshippers, he’d want a political marriage to add the kingdom of Rayner or Lukas to his burgeoning empire. Most people shrugged at the upcoming marriage, but did not worry about it too much: between oppressive laws and soldiers on every corner, they had much more pressing Crown matters to concern themselves with.

Timothy Stoker was worrying about it very much. He paced back and forth, back and forth beside the one tiny window of their hideout, hands clasped behind him, wishing fervently he was a more clever man that could unravel the machinations of the enigmatic King Jonah. 

It didn’t make sense that Jonah Magnus, a king conquering adjacent lands at a speed soon to make him an emperor, would propose to Jonathan Sims. Which meant that the king had secret reasons. Probably dangerous reasons. Nothing Magnus did in secret was good. Tim liked to know his enemy, and this would not do. 

They needed information. The Hidden needed to know what was so special about Jonathan Sims. They had a cleric of the Eye, but she couldn’t possibly scry what was going on within the walls of the Ocular Palace. Sasha was talented, but she could barely even glean snippets from Prentiss’s family, let alone the best-protected building on the continent. They needed a spy, but they were stretched thin enough as it was, though and everyone in The Hidden was there because they couldn’t pass for a king-loving passive citizen.

Well. Almost everyone.

What they needed was someone who could be a servant in the household, could hear everything, be everywhere, and yet go totally overlooked. 

And Tim happened to have a friend who could do exactly that. It wasn’t every day he got to send out an operative he trusted almost completely.

Inserting their spy into the Ocular Palace turned out to be surprisingly easy. Tim wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth, no matter how worried that ease made him. They already had two royal guards on the take. It was fairly easy to use slightly unscrupulous means to get one of the scullery maids let go. And when they were looking for someone new to tend to the fireplace and help in the kitchens on short notice, there was Martin Blackwood, with a reference from a sympathetic in House Keay and a face that was both easily trusted and easily ignored. Dead drops were set up for messages disguised as poetry, and Martin began work as a scullery boy. 

Tim was not a religious man. He did not believe the Gods offered anything beyond cheap tricks and problems, and he certainly was not one favored by any of them. But he prayed to whichever one would listen for the success of Martin’s mission. 

He was sure, if it proved necessary, Martin would kill Jonathan Sims.

**Author's Note:**

> catch me on tumblr at ceaselesslywatched


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